606 



DIPTERA. 



Fig. 266. 



brownlsli-yellow veins, and expand one inch and a quarter, 

 or more. We have several other kinds of Asilus, some 

 larger and others smaller than the foregoing, of whose 

 history nothing is known, except their predaceous habits in 

 the winged state, which have been often observed. There 

 are also several slender kinds of Laphria ; but these are 

 easily distinguished from every species of A%ilus by their 

 antennce, which are not, as in the latter, tipped with a slender 

 point, but are blunt at the end. 



Besides the foregoing, there are many other rapacious flies, 



some of which are of 

 great size. The lar- 

 gest one found here 

 is the orange-banded 

 Midas (^Midas fila- 

 tus*^), (Fig. 2GG,) 

 specimens of which 

 are sometimes found 

 measuring an inch 

 and a quarter in 

 length, with wings 

 expanding two inch- 

 es and a quarter. It is black, with an orange-colored 

 band on the second ring of the hind body ; and the wings 

 are smoky brown, with a metallic lustre. It receives its 

 scientific name, filatus, signifying thread-like, from its an- 

 tennas, which are long and slender, but they end with an 

 oblong oval knob. Its generical name was also given to it 

 on account of its long antennas ; Midas, in mythology, be- 

 ino- the name of a person fabled to have had the long ears 

 of an ass. The orange-banded Midas may often be seen 

 flying in the woods in July and August, or resting and 

 basking in the sun upon fallen trees. Its transformations 



* Incorrectly named Mydas Jilata by Fabricius. 



[ 6 Midas flatus is now generally called M. clavatus, Drury, which is the older 

 name. — Osten Sacken.] 



